Influence of Housing and Management on Lameness in Cubicle Housed Austrian Simmental Dairy Cows

Dairy farming in Austria is characterised by the predominant use of the dual purpose breed Simmental on small scale farms (59% of dairy farms keep 1 to 9 cows). Our aim was to identify crucial lameness risk factors related to housing and management in cubicle housed Austrian dairy cows. Thirty farms were visited during the winter housing period, and data on housing, management, behaviour, and lameness collected following a standardised protocol (part of Welfare Quality®). This included interviews with farmers, recordings of housing equipment dimensions and quality, direct observations of behaviour and lameness scoring. Mean lameness prevalence was 31% (range 6-70%). Crucial risk factors were determined by applying a GEE logistic regression model. The final model (based on 832 cows from 30 farms) included eleven significant risk factors, and the confounders ‘county’ and ‘parity’. Most of the identified risk factors pertained to lying comfort, and generally indicated increasing odds for lameness with decreasing lying comfort, i.e. more abnormal behaviours per cow, lower cow comfort index, cubicles with ...